Rätsel
by Chrysantheme
Summary: He knew she had pink hair. And he's quite certain her eyes were... green? grey? blue? Her face has changed. In which Sasuke gives a try at puzzles. Sasusaku oneshot.


Okay, so, I wanted to edit this fic because of the lack of reviews and everything, and because looking back at it I could have done better. However, I need to know what you guys think of it before making either the slight changes or pulling out the big guns, so to speak. Help me, please?

Here goes.

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**Rätsel**

For all his smarts, for all his power, Sasuke could never quite remember her face. It wasn't because of lack of trying; he can assure you that the first few days after he left the village he tried infinitely hard to see her face before he went to sleep.

But all he could see was a stream of tears.

He knew she had pink her. It was something one wouldn't be able to forget, like Naruto's blue eyes, or his _hope_. And he's quite certain her eyes were … green? Grey? Blue?

Sasuke hates not knowing things, and he hates not being able to see her face. It's like the last hand-sign for a Goukakyuu no Jutsu, which he couldn't remember just the second he had to show his father. He stared at the hand signs for days afterwards, repeating and repeating until it was ingrained in his memory and _I won't forget now_.

But her face just doesn't come. So he stops trying.

.

The next time he sees her, he hates her a bit. He remembered her face the minute he saw her but now… _now it's different, now it's tainted_. So he hates her a bit.

Naruto's face hasn't changed much. Still blue eyes, still blond hair, still whiskered cheeks, still too bright eyes and too deep words.

So he cuts his little speech, ready to kill him and gain those damn eyes. But the dobe (_Naruto – it's Naruto now_) has new friends and a black-haired, black-eyed boy gets in his way. So he should kill him too.

(_His face is too much like_ his_, and Sakura do you see it?_)

He shouldn't be surprised. The girl had grown, and he didn't know her now, so how should he have taken her for granted? _Of course_ she would throw herself at him, fist back, eyes hard and fast feet. Did she really think she would be able to finish him with a _fist_? He knows he should feel bad, that he should let her slide past him and then head to Naruto to finish him up.

But he hates her a bit, and her face has changed and _why can't he remember?_

He is slightly glad the jounin got there in time, because it would have been a waste of power, and he wouldn't like to dirt his katana with her blood (_with blood – not _hers_; just blood_). So she simply stands there for a while, taking in his indifference, his emotionless self and he wonders if she has given up.

He doesn't like the look on her face () and he doesn't want to wet his katana with her blood (_Blood, just blood, no _her) so he thinks it best to end them all in one swipe. But the idiot of Orochimaru had to stop him before he could, telling him that he shouldn't waste such jutsu on _them_. And he supposes that's right, but he can't quite stop hating her.

(_Besides, this Sakura isn't the one who loved him; this Sakura isn't _his_ so he can hurt her, right?)_

He wonders if she heard him – maybe she isn't as useless as he thinks – because she lifts her head and _looks at him_. And something mustn't be right, because her eyes are cold and hard and it is almost as if she _hates_ him. He decides she doesn't though, because she is Sakura, and Sakura can't hate him.

(_But she's not _your_ Sakura, is she? She can _hurt_ you, can't she?_)

So he leaves her there standing, in the middle of fallen people. He thinks its ironic, that she is the only one standing while all the others aren't.

When he gets back to the base, he still has her eyes in his mind, and he puts the small parts of her face together, like a puzzle. So now he has her eyes and her hair and they look out of place, because the hair is of his Sakura, and the eyes are of _her_. He softens them a bit, makes them slightly lighter and crinkles them in a smile.

Her eyes are green.

.

He doesn't see her for a long time. He has a … _team_ now, and he hasn't got much time to think about her. And he really doesn't care about it, because it's not like _before_, when he couldn't remember her face. He can always look at the puzzle, and though incomplete, it's enough for him; _for now_.

It's uneventful, their next meeting. They're not in the middle of a battle, nor was she looking for him. It was in a tea shop in some country where she had a mission and Hebi was staying in. Her face hasn't changed much this time. But her eyes are wide, clear and expressive, so he's satisfied they aren't dark anymore. It's almost as if she's his again.

He isn't the first to say something – he already did the night he left – but she won't back down either. So they are standing like fools in the shop's entrance, not saying anything and staring at each other.

He supposes he can at least finish the puzzle, and looks for the little things of her face. Her lips are thin, her nose is small, and she has a heart shape face, with clear, slightly tanned skin.

(_And she's _grown_, hasn't she?_)

And while he pieces together his puzzle, she opens her mouth _just so_ and says "How are you doing, Sasuke-kun?"

So he's blinking slowly, watching her face turn upwards in a smile, and it's almost as if she's _his_ again.

((Sasuke hates not knowing things, and hates not being able to understand her. It's like that one time when Team 7 thought Kakashi would be late and he surprised them all by showing up _early_. He was confused, so he set out to know what had happened, and it turns out that he was _always_ early; this times he simply fell asleep before he could go hide.

But he just can't get her. So he tries harder.))

.

_There are a lot of next times, because this puzzle is unusually hard._

_.fin._

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Read and review, please! Edit will come up faster with helpful feedback!


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